Lovey Borenstein

Founder and Owner of Chompie’s, Arizona’s N.Y. Deli

“If there’s one thing that my mother, Lovey Borenstein, is passionate about, it’s family. Lovey grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she met my father Lou. They moved with our whole family to Phoenix in 1978. At the time, Phoenix didn’t have a ‘good New York bagel.’ So on Feb. 14, 1979, having never owned a business before, Lovey and her family started baking bagels and Chompie’s was born. The people who came into the restaurant and bakery quickly became her second family. She got to know them and she was with them to celebrate good times and mourn bad times.  Through Chompie’s, she’s been able to help countless families. My mom has watched her customers’ families grow up and gets much joy seeing her customers come back to Chompie’s with their families. She didn’t know she’d be running Chompie’s for 35 years, but as she says, ‘It’s all because of family.’”  —Wendy Borenstein-Tucker, Lovey’s daughter

Story compiled by Melissa Larsen